A Dish Served Warm
by PadawanMage
Summary: Set during Part One of 'In A Mirror, Darkly', Commander Tucker gets his revenge on Major Reed for torturing him in the Booth. (Fill-in Fic)


**Title**: A Dish Served Warm

**Rating**: PG

**Genre**: Fill-in scene fic

**Summary**: Set during 'In a Mirror, Darkly', we get to see a little scene where Commander Tucker gets his revenge on Major Reed just prior to Archer's staff meeting.

**Author's Note**: I was inspired when Reed tortured Tucker in the Booth, and Tucker threatened the major, who laughed it off. Also, the doctor looked fairly delighted when he was ordered to get Reed and have him spend some time in the Booth as well.

This has not been beta'd, so please be gentle!

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Captain Forrest stalked away from the Interrogation Room, leaving behind a beaten (but not defeated) Jonathan Archer lying on the floor. Even before the door slid behind him, Forrest could still feel Archer smiling at his retreating back. Ten hours in the 'The Booth' hadn't erased the smug grin from that traitor's face. 

The captain shook his head at his own stupidity: he should have seen, or at least prepared for, Archer's mutiny. He'd always thought the man who had served under him in so many campaigns for the Terran Empire was below such betrayal. Now they were stuck on this ridiculous mission to find some ship the Tholians had captured. Well, that would be the last time he'd underestimate his second – in – command's ambition.

Forrest snorted. The one good thing that came out of this semi-failed mutiny (he still had no control of his own ship!) was that he now knew who was on his side and who wasn't. He ground his teeth at the way Lt. Travis had ignored his threat and called Archer, 'Captain', or the feral glee in which Major Reed had suggested taking him to the cargo bay and disposing of him 'quickly…quietly'. Unfortunately, there wasn't much that could be done about that…or was there?

Forrest stopped just before the turbolift and his eyes narrowed. He knew about the sabotage attempt on the Suliban cloaking device, as well as the investigation afterwards. From what he'd heard, Reed had even more fun with his new invention than Dr. Phlox. Now that the major was about to get a little taste of his own medicine, there was nothing wrong with pouring a little salt on that wound, was there?

Forrest smiled, walked over and hit an intercom button.

"Forrest to Engineering."

oOoOoOoOo

Major Reed walked stiffly ahead of the two MACO's escorting him to the Interrogation Room. Something told him, however, that there wouldn't be many questions asked while in the Booth. He'd toyed with the idea of trying to escape, but he'd trained these soldiers himself and knew how good they were. At least he wasn't going to get shot – like his father had years before. Of course, that was due in large part to his implicating him as an enemy of the Empire. As they reached the room, the major reflected that things could've been worse.

The door slid back, Reed took two steps…and abruptly stopped. Standing right next to Dr. Phlox and wearing the widest grin possible, given the hideous scarring on the whole right side of his face, was the Chief Engineer. Reed's left eye began to twitch.

"Why, Major," Charles Tucker said. "I do believe I see a crack in that tough British exterior of yours." He nodded his head to the two MACO's and they shoved the security chief forward until he was almost nose-to-nose with him.

"You can't kill me!" Reed hissed.

"Oh, I won't. But if I remember correctly, your exact words were: 'I'd like to see you try'?"

The major was shoved into the Booth and Tucker grinned as Reed impotently slammed his fists on its walls.

"Now, now, Major," Doctor Phlox tutted. "You know as well as I how much time and effort went into developing this device."

"I spent 4 hours in this thing and I only have an hour to enjoy until a senior staff briefing." Tucker frowned and looked at the doctor. "How high does this thing go, anyway?"

"It varies from species to species, of course. A baseline is made when the synaptic scan is made on the subject." Phlox shrugged. "What is painful to a human may only be a minor tickle to a Klingon."

Tucker's head rose at that last comment. "And what is painful for a Klingon would be…?"

"Well, for a human it would be – " Phlox's voice trailed off when he caught the look the Chief Engineer gave him. His eyebrows slowly rose and both he and Tucker slowly looked at Reed.

"Unimaginable," the doctor said in an almost delightful whisper. Major Reed looked from one to the other and his eyes widened when he saw the console being manually recalibrated for Klingon physiology!

"Phlox…don't do this!" Reed pleaded.

"Don't worry, Major, I'm fairly certain this won't kill you," the doctor said, finishing up the recalibration. "And I honestly can't tell how well this will work anyway, so I expect you to remember as much as you can so we compare notes later." He looked up with a smile. "All in the name of progress, of course."

The good doctor looked from a smirking Tucker to his now terrified 'test subject'. A hand came up and hovered over the activation button and Phlox licked his lips in anticipation.

"Shall we begin?"

FIN


End file.
